The Central Kalahari is where you go for the 'great escape.' The reserve is so vast and remote that there is every chance that you may not meet up with another soul for miles. You are in for a fabulous safari in Botswana with sights you may not experience in any other reserve, such as strange barking geckos and fantastic fiery red sunsets.
Need Advice?The reserve exists to protect the Bushmen's hunting rights and covers an area of 53 000 square kilometers of diverse landscapes. Because of the arid conditions, you will only sometimes find large groups of animals. The exception is migrations that occur after the rains.
Animals you are likely to encounter in the Central Kalahari are the black-maned lion, cheetahs, giraffes, brown hyenas, gemsbok, and springbok. Sightings occur against an endless sea of shimmering pans and golden grasslands stretching from one horizon to the other. Four fossil rivers flow through the reserve, among them, the dusty carriage-way of a watercourse that meandered through the northern Kalahari 10 000 years ago and today is known as Deception Valley - a prime game-watching and camping area.
San Bushmen are a people of nomadic hunter-gatherers who have inhabited the area for thousands of years. Interactions with these incredible people are a source of unlimited knowledge of the region, its animals, and its history. Some safari activities are accompanied by San Bushmen when staying at a private lodge.
The vastness of the reserve is amplified by the various salt pans, such as the Sunday, Leopard, and Piper's pans found in the area. The grasslands stretch endlessly to the horizon, and the warm neutral colors clashing with the red and purple hues of the sunset make for exceptionally scenic landscape photography.
The Central Kalahari is unlike any other safari area in Southern Africa. There is no internet, crowds, shops, and most significantly, no water (except at the lodges) and campsites. The Central Kalahari embodies Africa as it once was - a wild place wholly sheltered from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. The ancient fossil river beds constantly remind us of our human frailty and the fleeting passage of time.
Memorable experiences in the Central Kalahari center around relishing the seemingly infinite space - barely touched wilderness and relative solitude you'll enjoy while in this vast reserve.
Guests to the reserve are met at OR Tambo International Airport, where we assist them in boarding a pre-arranged flight from Johannesburg to Maun, which will take visitors straight to the northern region of Botswana. From Maun, guests fly via a charter plane to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
The Central Kalahari Game Reserve is the most remotely situated reserve in Botswana. Driving to the park through Botswana is arduous and especially dangerous in the evenings. If you wish to visit the reserve, African Sky will ensure that the drive is as short as possible and only involves driving from one of the resident airports to the lodge.
It is best to visit the reserve at the beginning of the year from January to April, during and after the summer rains, when the grasslands are well-watered. Traveling at this time is the most difficult, as vehicles can quickly become stuck in the soft wet sandy roads, but not to worry - experienced rangers will navigate you through the wilderness.
During the dry season, from May to October, the park is exceptionally dusty and warm, with no relief in the form of rain, and the animals are sparsely distributed. The park also experiences extreme weather fluctuations and can be exceptionally warm during the day, while the temperature drops beneath freezing point in the evenings.
The anthropological history of the area predates the establishment of the reserve in 1961 for thousands of years. It is hard to pinpoint when the area started being occupied by the San hunter-gatherers - more commonly known as Bushmen - but anthropologists estimate that they have been in the Kalahari for at least 40 000 - 70 000 years, maybe even longer. When the Central Kalahari Game Reserve was established in 1961, the original idea was that it would serve as a sanctuary for the Bushmen and that they could continue their age-old way of surviving in this harsh environment as nomadic hunters without any influence from the outside world.
The reserve was closed for 30 years until self-drives were allowed in the 1980s and 1990s in small and controlled numbers. The reserve contains several fossil rivers that were discovered to be rich in diamond deposits in the 1980s. The Botswana government then evicted the world's oldest inhabitants from the area. From 1997 to 2002, almost all the Bushmen were removed from the land to camps outside the reserve. After the Bushmen took the government to court, they won the human rights case to return home in 2006. The Botswana government still did not give the Bushman proper access to the reserve by banning them from the boreholes that they destroyed when the Bushmen were evicted, and following another appeal to the high court; the Bushmen only gained access five years later in 2011.
The Central Kalahari Game Reserve hosts immense wildlife for such a dry region. All the animals found here had to adapt to dry conditions and the ones that did so most effectively occur in the highest numbers. The most abundant antelope found here are the gemsbok, springbok, steenbok, red hartebeest, and eland, which are all excellently adapted to live with very little or no surface water, obtaining the water from the vegetation they eat. There will also be predators where there is prey, the most illustrious being the Kalahari lion, the only lion sub-specie still alive to bear a pitch-black mane.
Other predators include cheetahs, leopards, and caracals. Omnivores include the very cunning black-backed jackal and highly secretive Cape fox. Insectivores include aardvarks, honey badgers, meerkats, yellow mongooses, and bat-eared foxes. The ostrich, also known for surviving in these dry conditions, occurs across the reserve. However, wetter areas play host to herbivores like the African elephant, white rhino, giraffe, buffalo, blue wildebeest, sable antelope, impala, and predators like wild dogs, brown hyenas, and spotted hyenas. Also, keep an eye out for Chacma baboons, Cape ground squirrels, Cape hares, and porcupines.
The Kalahari is the largest sand basin in the world, covering over 900 000 square kilometers, including most of Botswana, the northern part of South Africa, and stretching across Namibia, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its name is derived from Tswana and translates to "the great thirst" or "a waterless place." The Central Kalahari Game Reserve is situated in the northeastern part of the world's largest sandy savanna. It is almost impossible to fathom that such a diverse ecology can be found - due to the region's harsh terrain and unyielding climate. Yet, various vegetation types, such as dunes, sandveld, bushveld, and acacia woodland, are evident in the area.
The area is also a world-renowned geologically significant area. It is a popular destination for archaeologists studying the geomorphological processes that have occurred over millennia. Fossil riverbeds, such as those found in Deception Valley and the various pans, illustrate the positions of primordial rivers that once flowed into the ancient Lake Makgadikgadi. The silhouettes of the sparsely scattered timeworn trees, like the camelthorn specie, against the backdrop of the flat plains and the open skies, are synonymous with the area. The area is also critical to social studies - an example of harmonized interactions between man and the environment.
Game drives are a great way to cover a larger area of the expanse accompanied by experienced rangers, which sometimes include members of the San Bushmen tribe. Guided Bushmen walks with the indigenous people are tremendously stimulating, and the transfer of historical knowledge passed on from generation to generation is a precious gift to take home. A night spent under the Kalahari sky, stargazing and breathing in the fresh air, leaves one feeling rejuvenated and allied to the earth. The absence of unnatural lighting means that the stars are strikingly bright, and constellations are easy to spot.
The area is also particularly well known for its birding opportunities. The occurrence of a variety of small prey that lives in the sand and bushveld attracts a multitude of raptors. Landscape photography and videography prospects, especially scenic sunrises, and sunsets, are all over the place, so be sure to pack extra batteries. It is important to reiterate that the Central Kalahari Game Reserve is situated in a very harsh environment, and regulations of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks should be taken seriously and adhered to at all times. Venturing off alone is not a good idea and can be very dangerous.
